[secretagent]

Fifty years ago, Truman and Eisenhower ceded to the Arabs the West's property rights in oil—although that oil properly belonged to those in the West whose science and technology made its discovery and use possible.

I didn't know the "West" had any property rights in Arabian Oil, and how that happened. I need some referrence to the relevant treaties or contracts.

[annalex]

I didn't know the "West" had any property rights in Arabian Oil,

I don't know about contracts. We can safely assume that some paperwork was filled in at the time. Under natural law, a discoverer should be able to claim rights when the object he discovers is otherwise unclaimed. SwimmingUpstream is going to disagree, so I am bumping him. I plan to discuss this difficult topic in a theoretical way at some calmer time.